Madison Keys meets Anna Bondar in the US Open second round on September 3 at 15:00 UTC. Keys is the clear favourite to advance; the more useful question is whether she can win by six games.
Keys has the shots, Bondar has the extra ball
Keys arrived from a strong Cincinnati run and opened in New York by beating Alina Korneeva 7-5, 6-4. Her hard-court power is working, but the score also reflects the issue: she created leads, lost some of them and never found consistent service rhythm.
Bondar’s recent hard-court results have been mixed, although her 6-3, 6-3 win over qualifier Lucie Havlíčková was purposeful. She attacked the second serve and contained a mid-match wobble, while her long Hamburg run had already shown that untidy matches do not trouble her unduly.
Six games leave little room for Keys to drift
Keys should control the first strike, especially when Bondar’s second serve sits up. Yet Bondar can return firmly through the middle, extend selected rallies and make Keys produce another clean shot—the sort of routine maintenance that powerful favourites occasionally neglect.
Their Charleston meeting ended 6-2, 7-5 to Keys, only a five-game margin. A similar straight-sets pattern, perhaps 6-4, 6-3, is entirely compatible with Keys advancing while Bondar covers; at better than even money, that distinction matters.
Prediction: Anna Bondar +5.5 games, odds 2.03
